THE MODERATOR: We are now joined Antron Brown. Before we open it up for questions I have
a few stats. Antron raced to six victories in 11 final rounds this year, claimed three No. 1
qualifying positions behind the wheel of his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster. He took the title when
Tony Schumacher lost a close final round to Brandon Bernstein at Pomona. With the championship,
Antron becomes the first African American to win an NHRA Full Throttle series championship as well
as the first to win a major auto racing championship in the United States. Antron, we've all seen
Schumacher in those situations where he brings the magic at Pomona, at the final race and wins the
championship. What were you thinking as you were watching him win round after round?

ANTRON BROWN: Well, the thing about it is, it literally puts things in perspective for
all of our team, that we did the best job we could. It was out of our control, and we know Tony
and his U.S. Army team with (crew chief) Mike Green and all those guys, they're incredible guys.
They're our teammates, and they're used to making those storybook endings, and I'm like, no, I do
not want to be a part of this story. You know what I mean? I don't want to make another
Cinderella story for Tony, especially after the hard work that all of our Matco Tools guys like
Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) and all of our guys put in, and our car just ran phenomenal all
year, and it was our championship to lose, especially after Reading. We had that big lead, over a
100 point lead, and we were like, all right, we've just go out there and race like we've been
racing and we'll be fine. So watch Tony doing that, I just saw all those hard blood, sweat and
tears just going away. It felt like we climbed Mount Everest and we got to the top and we were
almost at the top, and then we're balancing on that peak, and we're like, we're going to make it,
we're going to make it, and I was already ready just to fall all the way back down the mountain
again and start over from scratch next year with my boys and try to do the feat again. And then
when I saw Tony went out in the final, I was just like, I can't believe it, I can't believe it's
all on my boys, I saw my crew chief crying, Brian, and Mark, my wife, everybody that was around our
whole team jumping up and down for joy, and I saw racers from so many different teams and other
crew guys and owners all over the place. It was just an incredible experience, and it was very
heartfelt. I think the way it ended made it even more special for all of us.

THE MODERATOR: That scene at the starting line when you finally won the championship, you
were just mobbed; it was incredible.

ANTRON BROWN: Yes, it was, and that's one of the things that you could take with you. I
think that's the way it played out where the Countdown made it very, very interesting for the fans.
You couldn't draw it out any better. Trust me, our team wanted to end it in Vegas. When we come
to Pomona, we wanted to just go out and have fun and it doesn't make a difference what happens, and
that wasn't in the cards. I mean, Tony and Spencer, Shawn Langdon and the rest of them, they put
on a heck of a charge, and Tony, that shows you why he's a seven-time world champ and why his team
is that kind of championship team and he won all those championships when Allen Johnson was his
crew chief, also, is because he's on great teams, and Tony knows how to rise for those big moments.
I'm just glad that the big moment was for our team. It was definitely heartfelt, and I'm still in
awe. Our teammates are still in awe. We're still calling each other, and we don't even realize,
like is this real? Is this real? We're just still living that dream.

Q. Can you put into words what this means to you personally?

ANTRON BROWN: What this championship means is it goes way back to when I started Pro Stock
bikes. You talk about being in this sport for 15 years as a professional and just working hard,
keeping your head down to the grind, and I was very fortunate and blessed to be with some great,
great crew chiefs, started off in bikes from being out there with my crew chief Mark Peiser, who
really helped me get to where I'm at today, and then I had Steve Tartaglia on the bikes, and I went
to after I got out of the bike category, I went over with Lee Beard and had some fun with Lee and
Rob Flynn and Mike Gruber and them guys over at David Powers. Then I got teamed up with Brian
Corradi and Mark Oswald. It's just that whole deal where you look at where you're at right now and
all the bumps and bruises and the deals where you didn't have sponsorship and you stayed out there
and you fought through the struggle, then you come back out and you're competitive, then you lose
the championship several times in bikes and then we lost the championship three times in Top Fuel
when we were so close in the last race and we lost it. And then last year we're there at the end
and we just lost it, and to come out now as the victor, you look at all those heartfelt moments,
all the finger cuts, the grind that you see all your crew guys go through, all those test sessions,
all the different things that you went through, and you look back and you hoist that championship
trophy with all your guys, words cannot explain the feelings on how it feels. And it's one of the
best feelings I've ever had in my life, and to share it with the guys on my team is incredible
because they're like a family to me.

Q. What exactly happened to your car in the first round?

ANTRON BROWN: The thing that happened was it was a freak deal. We blew up Saturday night,
right. We actually had a piston come apart, we blew up, and it tore up a whole bunch of stuff on
the race car. So we came out there that morning with everything on it brand new, all brand new
fuel lines and everything else, and when I'm mashing the gas, the car was hiked up, everything was
working perfect, management fits were working perfect, and what it did was the pressure of the fuel
line from the dash 12 line that goes from our fuel pump to our management deal, it actually, the
fitting, the way it's crimped on the hose, didn't hold the hose and it blew the hose out. The hose
just blew out. And when the hose blew out, you're talking about 600 pounds of pressure of fuel
blowing out, and it leaned the engine out, then the engine backfired, then it caused the fuel line
and the fuel on fire, it was blow torching underneath my car, going into my foot pan, and it was
blowing back up in the cockpit at me on my feet, blow torching my feet and all the way up to near
where my crotch is in the race car. So that's what really happened, the fuel line just blew off the
car.

Brown and crew celebrate championship.

Q. And after losing first round like that going out that way, Mark Oswald being a former world
champion, did he give you any encouragement to hang in there and you still had a shot?

ANTRON BROWN: Absolutely, me, Mark and Brian, we all got together. We just looked down and
said, hey, you know what, we gave it everything that we had. We possibly couldn't give it any
more, and we said what's meant to be is going to be. It was just like we were at the mercy of the
race. You know what I mean? But we're all firm believers, if the good Lord made this to be, it
will be, and he did make it to be. He showed us that hey, I'm going to put you here to the last
run, and I'm going to see how you guys are going to handle this, and we handled it like great
sports. I went up and gave Tony a fist tap before he went down the racetrack and said, hey, man, if
it's meant to be it's going to be; good luck. And he said, hey, brother, likewise to you. And we
watched him run, and then it was a bittersweet moment. It's bitter because you don't like to see
your teammates lose, but it was sweet because we won the world championship.

Q. I went and watched the final round up in the bleachers, and I was actually sitting in front
of your kids, and you might have a lot of fans, but you don't have any bigger fans than those two.

ANTRON BROWN: You are definitely, absolutely right. I mean, my kids are so heartfelt. My
daughter Arianna is incredible; she always comes back and says, why did you let those guys beat
you. She says, Dad, come on, Pop, you've got to get on your game. That's how she talks to me.
And Adler and Anson are so emotional, and then sometimes even when I lose, Anson looks at me, and
he's like, okay, it's going to be okay, Dad, just get back in that car and it's going to be all
right. And my son Adler goes, Daddy... he doesn't know what's going on yet... Daddy, did you lose?
I go, yeah, son. He goes, Daddy, don't let that happen again.

Q. After the race you said when you started out, even some of your family members doubted that
you could pull this off, and there wasn't a lot of encouragement there. I'm wondering, is that
because of money or was it because you are an African American in a basically white sport? What
was the mindset there that you are taking on this huge challenge?

ANTRON BROWN: Well, the thing about it is that when you're looking at it, to get to be a
professional and do certain things, a lot of people look at a lot of people in the industry of
motorsports in general that it takes a lot of money, okay. So I don't think it makes a difference
what color you are, you know what I mean, and with our NHRA sport, its heritage is very diverse, so
it's never been a white sport, it's just been NHRA drag racing. You go to a drag race, you'll see
all people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds. So we never had that problem. But the deal of it
is, it's just hard in general to make it happen. To go in Pro Stock bike and keep a deal out
there, you've got guys sitting on the sidelines like Tommy Johnson, Jr., Hot Rod Fuller. You've
got people out there that have been running for championships, ran for high dollar teams that do
not have jobs. Larry Dixon, a three time world champion, is not out there. It's just hard to be
out there. And when I'm growing up as a little kid, you have to have somebody give you a chance.
Like my family comes from Sportsman racing, not from Top Fuel racing, not from Funny Car racing,
not from Pro Stock car racing. But you kind of have to know people, and you have to be out there
to know them to get that chance, and I think that's why it makes to hard to be a professional at
anything that you do. But when I was growing up you have family members, all right, how are you
going to make that happen, how is he going to give Antron a shot. People look at me as being
Antron, and their little nephew or their little cousin growing up or some of my friends or whatever
it is, because you don't see a lot of people make it that came from a normal background that hasn't
been in the sport, if you get what I'm saying. You know what I mean? Like my dad's last name was
not John Force. You understand, I didn't come from Prudhomme, or my last name wasn't Amato, someone
who already paved the way for you back in the '60s because he worked so hard. I had to do that now
and this time in this arena to actually make that happen. So I think that's what you call being so
difficult. It's hard to get out there.

Antron Brown

Q. I wanted to talk when you first got into the fuel car at length and what a change it was,
that's where you used the analogy it was like being in "Star Wars" or taking off or something. Now
that you've reached the championship after all of this, certainly in the music business as well as
several others, the saying is it's rarely a failure of talent, it's a failure of character. And
for you to have come through what you have the last few years and coming so close to the
championship and then down to the last couple of thousandths of a second almost losing it again
this year, certainly showing strength of character, and I would assume that comes from your family,
from your parents. I would also assume that that's something that I know for a fact that's what
people look forward to seeing in you and the influence you're going to have some kids down the road
here in the next few years just by being the champion that you are, but I was wondering about where
did the character come from, where did that strength come from?

ANTRON BROWN: I think the biggest thing if it is, it was instilled in me from a kid, from my
grandpa to my dad, my uncle, from my grandma, my mom. It was just a simple deal where they said,
you know, Son, and my great grandma, I'll never forget, she told me something before she passed
away and different stuff, and she just looked at us and told us how many things she's seen and how
many things she's been through. She was born in 1913. And she goes, you know, I've seen a lot of
things, and our family struggled and we've made it to this point. America is so beautiful right
now, and it's got so much opportunity, and she always told all of us from our family never walk
around with a chip on your shoulder. Enjoy the people that surround you and treat people the way
you want to be treated genuinely, and that's the way I always took life. I never look at somebody
or looked back in history to see how bad things used to be. You've got to look how things are now,
and that's what we focus on. And that's what got me here, and then when I first became a
professional racing Pro Stock bikes, I think the one thing with Troy Vincent when I was with him,
he used to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, defensive back, he owned my Pro Stock bike team for my
first three years, and he showed me so many incredible things, incredible things, how to be a
professional and how to carry yourself and how to have determination and how not to settle. It's
okay to be defeated, but how do you come back from that defeat? You don't sit there and mope about
it, you don't sit there and say what if or what about. You get back and you figure out and you go
back to work and work harder so you don't let that happen again. And that's the motto that I took
with me throughout my whole professional career is where I just keep the head down, no matter what
the outtake is, is that when I get set back, it actually fuels my fire even more, actually burns my
passion inside even deeper where I just put my claws down and I keep on climbing, I keep on
grabbing. I think that's where it really got set into me. And I actually spent a lot of time with
the U.S. Army soldiers and going through basic training for five days where I saw how a person gets
transformed from thinking about what you can't do. You know what I mean? And when you go through
that training, and what Troy has taught me, it's like, okay, you can do it, you've just got to
figure out how to do it, and that's by surrounding yourself with the right people. And when I
learned that kind of mindset, it helped turn me to the kind of person I am today, and it actually
helped me get to the level I am at today.

Q. You're pretty young to have a bucket list, but I'm thinking that by the time you get to be
an old man, you're not going to have anything to go on your bucket list; you'll really be reaching.
Have you ever thought about that?

ANTRON BROWN: I can always count on you to be out of the box, Big Daddy. That's why I love
you. You are absolutely, positively right. I would definitely be reaching, from skydiving to
bungee jumping to racing motocross as a kid to drag racing Pro Stock bikes to racing in Top Fuel,
and to eclipse and fulfill a dream like our whole team has, to win a world championship, I'm
enjoying life and I'm very blessed because the most important thing, of course, first is God and
then I'm very blessed with my family. My family is just incredible, from my wife to my kids. I
mean, I'm a very fortunate and blessed man. I don't know what else that a man could ask for. I
don't know what else I could reach for. I just don't know. Maybe if I sit on the couch and my wife
feeds me grapes, that might be the next thing on the bucket list. Maybe if I sat on the couch and
my wife could feed me some grapes while I watch a movie, that might be the final thing I could
reach for on my bucket list.

Q. Is there anything that you probably thought about, hey, I'd like to give that a try, that
nobody even thinks about? For instance, mine is to drive a railroad train. Is there anything like
that that you've ever thought about?

ANTRON BROWN: It's crazy because I always wanted to fly a jet fighter plane, and I actually
got to do that a couple years ago with the Thunderbirds in Vegas. They took me up and they
actually let me have the stick for a little bit, so I got to do that. You know what, I think one
thing on my bucket list I always would like to do is I always wanted to drive an F1 car, just to
drive it, not to race in the series, but to drive an F1 car. I think that'll be pretty, pretty
awesome. I don't know what else I would want to do. That's pretty much the last thing on my bucket
list that I really would love to do.

Q. What have you done to celebrate so far, and do you have any plans for the off season to
celebrate your championship?

ANTRON BROWN: The thing about it, I know that when we get back to Indy, first our plans on
the off season is to get back to work. We have a brand new car that's getting finished up. We
have an enclosed cockpit that we're bringing out, and we're going to be like Tony's car. So we've
got that in the rack to get done, and then we've got to rebuild the car that we just burned up, of
course, and put a new front half on that, also, the guys do. And then when we get back I think
December 1st in Brownsburg, we're going to be in the parade, and we're actually going to have a
float and we're going to put our Top Fuel dragster on the float and participate in the parade
downtown. And then besides that it's just going to be enjoying staying home and trying to get back
in the gym and hit it hard and be at the racetrack helping the boys out, and then actually going to
spend Christmas at home, not going nowhere, and enjoy just being settled at home. I think that's
going to be the most enjoyable thing is going to be that week, and then after that we're back into
it because the second week in January we'll be down in West Palm testing, back hitting it hard, and
then we'll have a week break when we come back from that and then we'll be at Pomona again. It's
going to be a short lived off season so I want to try to take it as slow as possible just to try to
let this NHRA championship sink in.

THE MODERATOR: We want to thank you Antron for calling in today, our 2012 NHRA Full
Throttle Series Top Fuel world champion. Best of luck to you during the off season. Hope you get
a lot of rest, and we'll look forward to seeing you back out there next year with the Mello Yello
Drag Racing Series.

ANTRON BROWN: Thank you so much. I can't wait to go out there for that Mello Yello drag
racing deal so we can go on yellow, baby. I can't wait. It's going to be a lot of fun. Thank you
so much for all your questions, and thank you again for a great year and for what you guys and
girls do for us out there.